The Chance Not Taken
by HaibaraDaiFan
Summary: Haibara had separated herself from Edogawa-kun and the Detective Boys for awhile now. She couldn't be with them any longer and the separation was good. But a chance run-in with Ayumi sets her on a trip that takes her back to the times of elementary and criminal-chasing. Can she take the chance she once refused to? Re-Upload, birthday fic, the only one I ever finished..
1. Old Friends

A much more recent note: This would be another story that I found in the process of cleaning off my laptop. I personally don't care for this story because I had rushed it in order to get it done for a certain someone's birthday (as mentioned below) and it's really not one of my best works. But I figured I might as well re-upload it. It's left as-is, so enjoy it in all of its random, not-making-any-sense glory. (By the way.. It got renamed because I abbreviated it and I can't figure out what WSC is supposed to mean, so .. just go with it.)

NOTE: this was made for UA's birthday, I know it's not the greatest but I tried hard… HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan

Chapter 1 – Old Friends

"There was once a chance I didn't take…"

Haibara thought of a million things that could apply to the prompt given to the class. Of course, almost every single one had to do with the Black Organization. Obviously she couldn't write about that. It had been awhile since she had been in an odd situation such as this. Everyone else seemed to have something that came to them. Haibara glanced around, feeling uneasy.

"You have until next Wednesday to complete the paper." Haibara felt relief rush through her at those words. She had the entire vacation to work on it.

Haibara looked around at all the students, who had now started whispering about what they were going to do for the paper and making plans for the upcoming break. It was hard to believe that she had watched so many of these students grow up around her from elementary to middle school and now high school. Some faces from the first few years were missing, particularly Kudo-kun's and the Detective Boys'. It had been her decision to go to a different school, but many from Teitan had come to this school along with her.

"Ai-chan!" Haibara looked up to see a girl with a red ribbon in her hair. She wore that thing every single day. Haibara wondered if it ever got annoying.

"What is it?" Haibara had kept her "cool" image and even though she had attracted enough admiration for a fan club, not many wanted to go up to her. They'd rather watch from afar. The girl smiled happily.

"Would you like to hang out with us tomorrow? We're going to the hot springs!" Haibara looked around her slightly, seeing the "we" part of the sentence. The rest of the girls were looking nervously over at her. Their eyes were pleading the back of the girl's head to not invite her. Haibara looked back at the girl.

"I'm sorry, Miyuki-san. I have plans for the break." The girl's cheery expression died slightly, but she still smiled.

"Okay!" Haibara watched as she turned around and told the news to the other girls, who looked immediately relieved.

The final bell rang, officially ending the day, and allowing streams of people to flood into the hallways and to the shoe lockers. Haibara stood up, grabbed her bag, and made her way silently to her shoe locker. She opened it to find yet another letter sitting on top of her shoes. She smiled a bit, remembering the meaning of a letter in Genta's shoe locker when they were in elementary. It had meant a case. Her hand reached out and grabbed the letter, opening it. She sighed. Over time, the meaning of a letter in a shoe locker meant a love letter or a fan letter. Haibara opened the envelope, wondering if somehow it would be a case.

She frowned and tore the letter right down the middle, walked over to the recycling bin, and threw it in. Nope. This time it was a fan letter. Then she walked back, took off her shoes, put on her outside shoes, and put her inside shoes back inside the locker. _Time to go home._

Haibara wondered why she had been thinking so much about the kids. Had she been happier with them around? It didn't matter though, she was looking more and more like her old self, so did Kudo-kun. She had seen him just a few months ago on the bus, a time she had a bit too much fun in making him suffer. Foreigners were good tools for that.

However, she felt like walking ever since then, maybe in some unconscious effort to avoid him. Had she been? Did it really matter? She suddenly stopped, thinking of her paper that she was going to have to work on. _That_ had been a chance she didn't take. For good reason, of course. There was no point in entertaining impossible thoughts. She continued walking, on her way to her home. She almost tripped over a girl who had fallen down in front of her. Haibara crouched down.

"Are you okay?" Haibara asked, reaching out a hand to help her up. The girl was wearing a Teitan uniform.

"Yeah.. thanks… Ai-chan?" Haibara stared for a few moments, as did the fallen girl.

"Ayumi-chan?" Haibara was rather surprised at the changes in the girl. She looked much more like an adult, and it was hard to fathom since she had always been only a kid to her. Ayumi smiled.

"Yup! I haven't seen you in forever, Ai-chan!" Ayumi stood up and immediately gave Haibara a hug.

"Yeah…" Haibara replied, feeling a small tinge of guilt. Perhaps she had left them in the hands of an idiot detective too long?

"You look so pretty, Ai-chan! It's strange to see you with longer hair!" Haibara smiled.

"Look who's talking. Your hair is much longer than mine." Ayumi blushed a little at that, taking a few strands into her hand.

"Mitsuhiko likes it like this…" Haibara raised her eyebrows, surprised that it hadn't been Kudo-kun she was trying to impress. Ayumi looked up a little flustered. "Ah, eh, well do you want to sit down and talk over at that café? If you have enough time…" Haibara had the urge to avoid her like she had been avoiding everyone else, to stay in her world of solitude, but when it came to Ayumi, it was hard to turn her down. It wasn't like she had much to go home to anyway.

"Sure."

"…So Genta ate ten whole plates! I think it more than paid us for taking her case. Of course Mitsuhiko was polite as ever, and Conan-kun didn't seem very hungry." Ayumi blushed at mentioning Mitsuhiko, and her voice turned to concern for Conan. Haibara took another drink of her iced coffee.

"Is there something wrong with Edogawa-kun?" Ayumi looked up at her in a slightly nervous manner.

"Well… he's been acting odd recently. It started happening a few weeks ago. He hasn't been concentrating on many things, and he stares around the classroom strangely. He keeps spacing out whenever we're talking with him. Conan-kun only comes back to life during a case, and then the other day he even spaced out then!" Haibara found this rather surprising. It was indeed something not like him.

"I see…" She ate a small bite of her sandwich that she had ordered. Perhaps he was imagining when he and Ran had been there, the Ran who had gone overseas for college and had decided to stay there. Haibara almost felt sad for him.

"But maybe he'll perk up again during the break! We're going on a vacation together, just the Detective Boys! It'd be great if you could come too, Ai-chan." Haibara flinched a little. She had gotten too used to staying away from everyone. Would it be bad to go on a vacation with some old friends? It would be awkward though. Haibara looked at a much more mature Ayumi who still could pull off the puppy eyes perfectly.

"I guess I could go… when is it?" Ayumi grinned, obviously happy that she got her to agree.

"You better start packing; I'll pick you up tomorrow!"

"Eh?"

"Well you see, we're going really early in the morning so we can get out there and get settled for the rest of the week. We'll come back a day before the break ends. Everyone is bringing something for it, so if you want anything you'll have to pack it. We're going to take the train and then hike. Think you can do it?" Haibara blinked. Hakase hadn't mentioned a trip with the kids last time she called.

"Who all is going?" Ayumi blushed a little.

"Well, as long as you go, it's just Mitsuhiko, Genta, Conan-kun, me, and you." It almost shocked her that they were past the days of taking the professor everywhere with them. Of course, they were old enough now, and surely responsible enough to go wherever they pleased.

"Alright. I guess I'll be heading on home then. I don't want to come unprepared." Haibara stood up, paid for her bill, and left.

_A week with them, eh? Shouldn't be too terrible._


	2. Why Me?

NOTE: this was made for UA's birthday, I know it's not the greatest but I tried hard… HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan

Chapter 2 – Why me?

Haibara opened the door to a confused Ayumi. "Good morning." Ayumi smiled, but she was eyeing her surroundings.

"Ai-chan, I thought you still lived with the professor. So I went there first. Then he told me about this place. I never would've thought you'd leave a mansion for an apartment… " Haibara stayed silent. "Oh! Sorry, it's not really any of my business…" Haibara shrugged and opened the door wider before turning around to go back inside.

"You coming in? I have to get the rest of my things." Ayumi nodded and followed the older girl inside, still gawking at everything around her.

"It's so neat…" Haibara looked over at her while she finished putting some food in a bag,

"Did you expect it to be sloppy or something? I'm not one of the guys, Ayumi-chan." Ayumi flinched.

"I'm so sorry, Ai-chan! I didn't mean it like that!" Haibara chuckled a little.

"I know. Don't worry so much about it." The older girl continued to pack endless amounts of wrapped foods into the bag. "I figured that with all of us we might run short of food. Considering Kojima-kun is coming, and since we have the irresponsible detective on our hands." Ayumi laughed.

"It's probably a good idea. But Genta won't be coming until later in the week if he gets over his cold." Haibara heaved the pack up onto her shoulder and grabbed another bag.

"I'm sure he'll get better soon." Ayumi nodded and the two of them made their way out the door and down the stairs.

Haibara sat down in the seat across from Ayumi, who had sat herself next to Mitsuhiko. Kudo-kun walked down the aisle, looking around as if searching for a seat that didn't involve sitting next to Haibara. But all the other seats nearby were taken, and he resignedly sat down beside her.

Haibara ignored his presence and reached for a magazine, but was unable to even open it because of the odd scene in front of her.

_Seriously?_ She asked herself, watching Ayumi and Mitsuhiko flirt with each other. _Why did I even agree to this? _Haibara glanced over at Kudo-kun who happened to be forcing himself to read a book. The expression on his face gave away his annoyance at the two across from them, though.

"Just because Genta isn't here doesn't mean you two have to do that, you know." Mitsuhiko and Ayumi both blushed a rather interesting shade of red, but in the end ignored Kudo-kun's comment and continued to flirt. Haibara fought the urge to smack her forehead against the tray on her lap. She picked up the magazine again and forced herself to stare at it in a futile attempt to ignore the lovebirds.

An hour or so later, the two got too tired to keep up their annoying habits, and ended up falling asleep, Ayumi's head on Mitsuhiko's shoulder. Haibara looked over at Kudo-kun who had been on the same page for the last ten minutes. He was spacing out, his eyes looked dead and he seemed as though he wasn't there, in fact it was as if his spirit had left his body to go somewhere else for awhile.

"I heard she went overseas." Kudo-kun blinked, life coming back to him.

"Who?" Haibara glared at him.

"Your girlfriend." He stared at her for a second.

"Ran?" Haibara continued to glare.

"How could you act so stupid? Of course I meant her." Kudo-kun laughed uncomfortably.

"Sorry…" Haibara wondered if Kudo-kun was having problems adjusting to even stronger déjà vu, or if perhaps, something of importance was nagging at him. Or maybe… he was just an idiot. That was very likely as well.

"Why have you been such an airhead recently? Ayumi-chan is worried about you." Haibara was taken aback by the look he gave her.

"How would you know anything about what's going on? What if Ayumi is simply overreacting for no good reason? Why are you even here?" Haibara was silenced by his sudden outburst. She used to be prone to arguing back, but she had been feeling rejection enough to simply stay silent. He was right. She had practically abandoned them. So why was she here anyway? "Sorry…" Kudo-kun repeated, a bit of regret in his eyes.

"I can't blame you for being grumpy about your girlfriend leaving you." Haibara said in a taunting tone, a smirk making its way onto her face. This was Kudo-kun, the perfect person to mess with. Why was she feeling the need to back down? He glared at her.

"You…" He didn't finish his sentence, but somehow they both felt the urge to laugh. Although neither did. It just felt so right to be this way, just as it had been.

A few hours later the train stopped, and the passengers got off. Four particular passengers lugged huge bags with them, accidentally hitting most of the other passengers by accident as they made their way down the aisle.

"AH! So glad to be off the train! Now to stretch our legs and go hiking!" Ayumi said, excited and very much awake after her nap.

"Woo." Kudo-kun muttered as he followed the overly-excited younger people down a path. Haibara smirked again.

"Aww, did you get dragged along again, Mr. Great Detective?" Kudo-kun glared at her.

"Unfortunately." She grinned, not admitting that she was sort of dragged along too.

"I almost miss Genta whining about food." Haibara said softly, more of a thought that accidentally passed through her lips than anything. Conan snorted.

"Don't worry. He still does plenty of that. I won't be surprised if he gets someone to drive him up here." Ayumi turned her head.

"No, Genta said he'd definitely do the hike! You can't really get to the best spots if you take a car." Haibara raised her eyebrows a little.

"Oh? How long is the hike supposed to take then?"

"Only four hours."

"…I… see."

Haibara, who was almost sure that she would be the one lagging behind, was the one leading with the map after four hours. Ayumi was sweating horribly, her hair sticking to her face like glue, yet seemed worried about putting her hair up. Haibara had already resorted to using a pony tail, not caring if it made her look weird or not. Mitsuhiko had taken on some of Ayumi's extra bags and stayed next to her, while Kudo-kun straggled between Haibara and Ayumi and Mitsuhiko.

"How much further?" Mitsuhiko called out, having to pant a little to regain his breath. Haibara took an estimate, looked up at the sun, and frowned.

"We have about another hour and a half to go. Looks like we're slower than we should be. And we don't have much time left anyway; the sun is already starting to set. We should probably find a good spot to set up camp." Haibara searched the map for any close-by open areas good enough for a tent to be put up. She wondered why they had chosen such a steep path through the forest, even with a great view and all, the place they were going to stay at didn't seem too different from all the others.

"Haibara, are there any good places to stop?" Conan asked, catching up to her and looking over her shoulder at the map. She frowned and pointed at a small clearing on the map.

"This is really the only spot we could reach before it gets too dark to see. It might be big enough for one tent, but I highly doubt that it would fit a second one." Conan looked around.

"Why did you pick such a dense forest area anyway?" he asked, turning back towards the two behind the whole thing.

"It's the only path that leads to the campsite." Ayumi replied, seeming a bit regretful.

"Heh. Heh. Heh." Conan glared at the map. "I guess we'll just have to squeeze into one tent."

Thirty minutes later, they had reached the clearing and set up the tent. There was indeed no room for the second tent.

All four sat in the tent, quite close to each other. Haibara was pressed against the side of the tent on the end, Ayumi barely a centimeter away from her. All of their things had taken up half of the tent space, and moving so there was room to eat inside was a pain. Conan passed out wrapped onigiri to everyone. Next came the water bottles. Then the napkins.

Ayumi and Haibara kept accidentally hitting each other while eating, and Conan and Mitsuhiko were having the same problem. There was an awkward space between Ayumi and Mitsuhiko, a space that Haibara silently wished they would fill so everyone could have better breathing room. Personal space was one thing Haibara liked about being alone.

Everyone passed their trash back down to Conan and decided to go to sleep early, since there wasn't anything better to do. Everyone eventually fell asleep, even with Mitsuhiko's mild snoring.

Haibara opened her eyes in response to being smacked in the face by someone's leg. She about yelled when she noticed who it was. She had expected to see the limb connected to Ayumi, however it was attached to Kudo-kun. But he wasn't the only one where he wasn't supposed to be. Ayumi somehow ended up half-draped over Mitsuhiko, and even she had been half on top of Ayumi. Haibara raised her hand to smack Kudo-kun so he'd get his leg off of her when she heard him mumble something in his sleep.

"Oi, Haibara… where you going… don't leave…" Somehow those mumbled words made her blush, and she forgot about smacking him. She probably should've, just to get everyone untangled, but instead she weaved her way out and stayed all the way against the side of the tent. She tried to go back to sleep, but she was reminded of the time Kudo-kun had seemed so close to realizing the truth. Even though his stupid question had ticked her off that night, she chuckled quietly to herself upon remembering it. He really was such an idiot. "Is there something on my face?" How stupid could a guy get? She rolled over and sat up, letting the reality of them being there set in. It had been so long. For her, it felt like a hundred years, even though it had only been six since she left them behind.

She thought about it some more, and found herself about to burst out laughing. They were still very much kids, being teenagers and still having no problem acting like they were still in second grade, going on camping trips and being comfortable enough to try to hog all the space inside the tent. The little regret she felt for leaving grew. When she had to study in America, she had wanted to go to a Japanese school like her older sister had. But if she thought more about it, she was doing the same thing that she did in America. How was it any different? She was still alone. At least with them, she would have friends that weren't intimidated by her.

She sighed and laid back down. After a few minutes with her eyes closed, she finally drifted to back to sleep.

Everyone woke up to a scream early in the morning.

"Ayumi-chan? What's wrong?" Conan yelled out. Ayumi had thrown herself back all the way against Haibara, who was looking for whatever had freaked her out. Then she realized, especially after reading the mixed fear and delight expression on Mitsuhiko's face. Apparently they just realized just how they were sleeping last night. Haibara felt kind of bad for not untangling them, but maybe now they wouldn't be so flirty.

"N-Nothing." She stuttered, starting to grab her things. "A-Anyway we should really get out there in case Genta beat us there." Conan, who was forever lost to what she was freaking out over, gave her an incredulous look.

"There's no way he could've beat us up there. It was night." Ayumi ignored Conan and continued to get everything together. Haibara sighed and began to help her, and soon everyone was packed up and ready to go.

Ayumi stuck close to Haibara the entire rest of the hike, almost as if she could protect her from everything. Mitsuhiko hung back with Conan. Conan still failed to completely read the situation, and was dying to ask what had exactly happened.

When Ayumi deemed the distance between the boys and them was far enough, she began to talk with Haibara.

"Ai-chan… have you ever kissed someone?" Haibara blushed a little.

"No… I can't say that I have." Ayumi looked down at her feet as she walked.

"Oh…" After a few minutes, she decided to continue the conversation. "Well… what do you think it'd be like? To kiss someone that you're in love with?" Haibara shrugged.

"They say it's bliss. However I wouldn't know. You can't believe what everyone says."

"Who is they?" Ayumi persisted. "The people in those magazines you read?" Haibara almost choked.

"Well… sometimes they have articles on things like that." Ayumi then went into daydream mode for the rest of the way to the campsite.


	3. Is This Really Camping?

NOTE: this was made for UA's birthday, I know it's not the greatest but I tried hard… HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan

Chapter 3 – Is this really camping?

All four stood staring in awe at the campsite. It was an open area, with a ton of grass. It felt as though they were close enough to the sky to touch it. A little further down the path was a small cabin, and something that looked suspiciously like a lake.

"Isn't it great?" Ayumi yelled as she ran toward the cabin. "If no one is here we get to stay in the cabin, first come first serve!" The other three followed behind at a more normal pace. Ayumi disappeared inside for a few minutes, and by the time they had reached the doorstep, she came bursting out.

"We got here first!" Mitsuhiko cheered, and Haibara and Conan simply began to make their way inside.

"Pretty nice…" Haibara said, putting down her bags. It was made like a small summer home.

"There's even a fridge!" Ayumi said, hopping over to the said item and opening the door of it. "So cool.~"

"Isn't it kind of odd that they'd let us use all of this for free?" Haibara asked. Conan, with his all-knowingness, began a small lecture.

"No, not really. This place is set up to where everyone pays a fee to camp on the grounds, which pays for the cabins at the campsites. Whoever reaches the campsite first has dibs on the cabin there. Otherwise they can camp out and if the first group wants to, they can store their things and use some of the utilities inside. It's an interesting set up that attracts a lot of people who enjoy the outdoors and would like an inexpensive vacation." Haibara rolled her eyes.

"The last part wasn't necessary. What are you, an advertisement or something?" Ayumi and Mitsuhiko snickered a little at that one and helped Haibara unpack. Conan glared and began to help as well.

"There's supposed to be a lake about fifteen minutes from here. After we're done, we should go swimming!" Ayumi said, delighted.

After unpacking, Haibara grabbed her belongings and put them in the room where she and Ayumi were going to sleep. She plopped down on one of the beds there. "It's almost like a hotel. . ." Ayumi walked in as she said those words and smiled.

"All the cabins are like this. It's worth it for the fee." Haibara looked over at her.

"So how much was this fee anyway?" Ayumi shrugged.

"I'm not supposed to tell you. Mitsuhiko took care of it for us all. Isn't he sweet?" Haibara nodded slowly.

"Ayumi-chan… is it possible that he asked you to come with him first?" Ayumi turned and nodded, like the strangely clueless girl she was. "Were you the one who suggested that it be a Detective Boys trip?" Ayumi nodded again.

"Isn't it great?" Haibara resisted the urge to yell at the girl and grabbed one of her magazines.

"Sure." Ayumi blinked at Haibara's transition from curious to passive, but figured that was just Ai-chan.

"I'm going to change into my swimsuit; you might want to change next, since we're leaving in a few minutes." Haibara yawned.

"No, I feel like staying here for tonight. You go have fun with Tsubaraya-kun." Ayumi frowned.

"Are you alright, Ai-chan? I can see if we have something if you're not feeling well…" Haibara shook her head.

"I just feel like resting." Ayumi gave her a worried look before going off down the hall to the bathroom.

_That girl is still so hopeless…_

After hearing everyone leave, Haibara sighed. She was here, unwanted, on a trip originally meant just for Tsubaraya-kun an Ayumi-chan. Kudo-kun was hopelessly airheaded and wasn't any good for a conversation, considering it felt odd to try to jump into one. They used to be perfectly on the same wavelength. They shared the same secret, the same pain, the same understandings. Now she couldn't talk to him like that. She didn't understand anything about him anymore. What if he had changed much more than she thought? She hadn't been there.

Sighing again, Haibara pulled out paper and a pencil to begin her assignment. Even though it was embarrassing, she would be writing the truth for once instead of faking her life. So she started.

"There was once a chance I didn't take… When I was younger, I cared for someone very deeply. I was by their side almost every day. We shared secrets no one else knew. I tried to show him subtly how I felt for him, but I never was able to muster up the courage to tell him straight out. The chance I didn't take was a chance that could've made me very happy. But what does my happiness matter if it causes another's sorrow? The person I loved was in love with someone else. I couldn't take the chance. Now here I am. Alone, wishing and regretting. That's what happens when you don't take the chance when it's given to you."

Haibara dropped her pencil. It was short, but it was a break assignment. She stretched, then looked at her cell phone for the time. Deciding that it was about time to start cooking dinner, she went into the kitchen.

"Haibara?" Haibara jumped, looking over in surprise. Kudo-kun was sitting there with an orange slice just about in his mouth and his glasses off of his face. "I thought you went with everyone else…"

"Aren't you a detective? Was it so hard to realize that only two people left and not three?" Haibara knew she was one to talk, considering that she herself hadn't realized his presence either. Being out so far into the world, Haibara had let her guard down, forgetting for a moment about the everyday threat of the Organization. Most of them were arrested, but Vermouth was still unaccounted for, as well as anyone that would distinguish themselves as "Anokata". Kudo-kun didn't reply. Instead, he shoved the orange slice he was holding into his mouth.

Haibara was a little on the shocked side to see no reaction from him. Perhaps this was one of those things that she would've known about if she was there.

"Why didn't you go with them?" Haibara turned to the fridge, opening it to look for something to work for dinner.

"I could ask you the same, Kudo-kun." She rummaged through the things inside and found sufficient ingredients for stew. Haibara pulled the ingredients out and started looking around for a pot.

"I didn't feel like it." Haibara found something that would work and put it up on the stove, then closed the cabinet door.

"Well, neither did I. You know staying inside alone all day doesn't help depression, Kudo-kun." She began to add water into the deep pot she had found.

"I know that. Do you?" Haibara froze for a second, then continued with pouring water into the pot.

"Of course. I just told you. Beef or pork?" Haibara held two meat packages up to examine them. They were in the freezer when they had arrived. She wondered what nice unmapped roads the people who stocked food got to take to get here. Obviously there had to be one, otherwise nothing food-wise would exist here other than canned foods.

"Beef." Haibara put the pork back into the freezer. Conan ate another orange slice. Haibara found a cutting board along with a sharp knife.

"I'm not sure if I should trust you with that." Kudo-kun sounded a bit like he was joking, and just a bit like he was serious. Haibara turned and smirked.

"Who would solve your murder for you?" Kudo-kun cringed a little.

"I'm sure the Ayumi-chan and the others would. Even though they wouldn't like the culprit in this case." Haibara snorted. "Why are you making dinner food at lunch time?" Another orange slice went into his mouth.

"Because stew isn't good if you don't make it right and give it enough time." Conan shrugged.

"There's perfectly good onigiri and wrapped sandwiches you know." Haibara began chopping up carrots.

"Yes, and I plan on eating some for lunch. Did Tsubaraya-kun and Ayumi-chan take something to eat with them?" Conan thought for a second.

"I think they did." Haibara scraped the carrots off of the cutting board and into the water. She began to work with some onions.

"'I think' is so very helpful."

"Well so sorry miss obaa-san.(old lady)" The steady sound of chopping stopped.

"What did you say?" Conan choked a little on his orange slice.

"Nothing…" The chopping sounds resumed. Haibara then scraped those into the pot as well, finding potatoes and skinning them.

"I guess we should be somewhere in life by now. You a famous detective. Me a mad scientist behind bars along with the Organization. I think you'd make more money than me though."

"Ha…ha…" Kudo-kun had no response for her words. So he sat in silence while she made the rest of the stew.

The lid plopped down on top of the pot. A sandwich was unwrapped. A chair was sat in.

"Done?" Conan asked, not having moved the entire time she had prepared for the night's dinner.

"Obviously." Conan sat silently next to her. His orange was gone now, just the peel lying there on a plate. He had only seen her in her older form once, when she was being shot to death. Even then he'd recognized how beautiful she was. His encounter with her on the bus awhile ago had provided him with a short glance at what she had become. He had been watching her a bit too long, and he could feel the blush on his face for awhile until he got it under control.

Haibara glanced over. She had seen Kudo-kun quite a few times in his older form and on television before the whole ordeal happened. But it seemed different, he was a little younger, but no less attractive. Old feelings, she told herself. Just a crush, something that will fade with time. _How much time?_ She couldn't answer her own thought question, but she did what she could do; eat the sandwich in her hands.

"Haibara… what've you been doing since you left for a different school? I never see you whenever I'm at Hakase's…" Haibara chewed then swallowed.

"I do normal things. Go to school. Live. Nothing abnormal. Unlike you, of course." Conan laughed a little at that.

"I guess running into cases almost every day of my life is considered normal for me. Do you hide in Hakase's basement or something all the time?" Haibara took another bite, giving her a few moments to contemplate the meaning of his actions. Why would he press about her not being there when he came? Did he think she was avoiding him?

"I live in my own apartment. To keep Hakase out of any further problems." Kudo-kun looked almost relieved at her words.

"I see… What's school like there?" Haibara glared.

"It's like school. Like Japanese school. What kind of question is that?" Kudo-kun looked away.

"That's not how I meant that question. I was just wondering… how you dealt with the people there… since you… you're… you know…" Haibara could feel the sincerity of his words, but they were poorly chosen, and she chose to take the easy route.

"I have a disease? What?" Kudo-kun got up to throw away his trash.

"Never mind. I'm going to go lay down." Haibara finished her sandwich and retreated to her room to go read another magazine. But when she was lying on the bed to read it, exhaustion overtook her and slowly her eyes closed and she fell asleep.

Ayumi and Mitsuhiko burst in through the door, laughing.

"That cannonball you did was awesome!" Ayumi said as she set a bag down. Mitsuhiko grinned.

"Yours was too. What's that good smell?" Ayumi had noticed the aroma as well when she came in the door.

"I'm not sure, but it smells great!" Conan walked out of the bedroom the boys were sharing, stretching.

"Oh, Haibara started making some stew for tonight's dinner." Conan then went over to the pot and took off the lid to look at it. Steam rose up in his face, making his glasses cloudy. "Geh!" He pulled his head back and waited for a few seconds, then took the ladle and stirred the stew. "It seems to be about done. I'll go see what Haibara wants to do with it." Ayumi and Mitsuhiko nodded, and then began taking care of the things they had taken out to the lake.

Conan knocked gently on the door. No reply. He knocked again, just a little louder. He didn't want to set her off. He decided it was fine to open the door since she didn't shout at him. "Haibara?" He asked softly. Conan stopped when he saw her sleeping peacefully next to an open magazine. He smiled. _How cute…_

Not sure what to do, he took another step into the room. Something on the desk in there caught his eye. Picking up the paper, he read the words. _No way…_ He looked over at the sleeping form, then back to the paper. Deciding that she'd be ticked if he didn't wake her up and the stew got ruined, he placed the paper just as it was on the desk and walked over to her, gently shaking her shoulder.

"Haibara… Haibara wake up." Her eyes fluttered to a half-open state.

"Onee-chan…?" Conan wondered if she had a dream about her dead sister. He almost wished that he could bring Akemi back for her. Pretending he hadn't heard what she mumbled, he shook her shoulder again.

"Come on Haibara, I think the stew is almost done." Now her eyes opened enough to let her realize what was going on. She looked at him, sleep slowly drifting away from her.

"Oh… the stew." She got up, swinging her legs over and walking into the other room, Conan following her. "Welcome back, Ayumi-chan, Tsubaraya-kun. Did you have fun?" Haibara asked as she began to open the lid on the pot.

"Yeah we did! Thanks. What kind of stew is that?" Ayumi asked, coming over next to Haibara.

"Beef." Haibara replied, stirring it, adding something to it, stirring again, and then turning off the burner.

"Oh, isn't that Conan-kun's favorite?" Everyone looked over to Conan. He shrugged.

"Can you get some bowls?" Haibara asked, ready to serve up the stew. She had prepared some rice as well. She poured out rice and stew into bowls for all of them. Right when everyone was about to sit down, Ayumi's cell phone rang.

"It's Genta." Ayumi flipped open the phone and put it to her ear. "Hello? Are you feeling any better? Oh, glad to hear that. Tomorrow morning? Alright.. Don't push yourself too hard. Okay, see you then. Bye." Everyone waited to hear what the news was, though they all had a general idea as to what was going on.

"He's going to leave for here tomorrow in the morning, since he's feeling better today." The rests' suspicions were confirmed.

"I see." Mitsuhiko said, just for the heck of it. The four began to dig into their dinner.

"Haibara, this is good." Conan said after swallowing his first bite. Mitsuhiko made a loud muffled noise when he took a bite. After he finished chewing and swallowing, he made a clear sentence.

"Haibara-san! This is really good!" The blush that came on Mitsuhiko's face didn't go unnoticed by Ayumi.

"Delicious." Ayumi said softly, a small flicker of jealousy coming up inside her. Mitsuhiko had always admired Ai-chan. He liked how mature she was. So Ayumi had acted and looked as mature as her personality would allow. The one thing Ai-chan didn't have that Mitsuhiko liked was long hair, which Ayumi had grown out just for him. They weren't officially going out with each other, and Ayumi knew how taken Mitsuhiko had been by Ai-chan for so long. Kind of like how she had like Conan-kun for awhile.

At the end of dinner, Conan was left with the dishes and the rest of them began to set up a board game. After they finished playing games and having a good time, they went to their rooms to go to sleep. Ayumi and Haibara laid in the dark, their eyes open, both thinking about things they couldn't solve.

"Ai-chan? Are you awake?" Haibara didn't answer for a moment, not sure if she wanted to have this conversation.

"Yeah…"

"Ai-chan… is there someone you like?" Haibara sighed. She had a feeling that she was going to ask a question like that.

"Yes." She might as well answer truthfully for once. It wasn't like she was going to see her ever again after the week was over.

"I see." Ayumi would leave it at that. Ai-chan liked someone. It might be Conan-kun, it might be Mitsuhiko, it might be someone she didn't even know. "Goodnight, Ai-chan."

"Yeah… Goodnight…"


	4. Face Your Fears

NOTE: this was made for UA's birthday, I know it's not the greatest but I tried hard… HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan

Chapter 4 – Face Your Fears

"GENTA!" Ayumi yelled happily as the teenager made it through the door, panting. Haibara was surprised. She expected him to be like the others, the same except teenage size. But to her surprise, Genta had actually slimmed down quite a bit, and had a more American football player look than a kid who liked to pig out.

"Hey Genta! We're about to go down to the lake again today, you coming?" Mitsuhiko asked, carrying a picnic basket. Today, all four had agreed to go together. After panting for a few moments, Genta answered.

"Sure!" Haibara put her hand to her head.

"I'm sorry, but I think I'm going to stay inside today. I have a headache…" Ayumi frowned.

"Are you alright? I could see if there's any medicine…" Haibara smiled.

"I have some with me… It's nice to see you again, Kojima-kun. Hope you all have fun out there. Tell me if you see anything interesting." They agreed to and all left. She was alone. Haibara walked back to the girls' room and lied down.

She felt just fine physically. The problem was, she didn't really belong there with them. She didn't want to ruin their fun anymore than she already had. So she'd stay inside today. Suddenly she heard the door to the cabin open and next her door.

"Haibara-san…" Haibara blinked. Mitsuhiko was standing in her doorway. He wasn't supposed to be here, he was supposed to be gone.

"What is it?" Mitsuhiko opened his mouth as if to say something, then stopped.

"Um… do you know where the sunscreen is?" Haibara pointed at the desk in the room. Her paper was already back inside her bags, now all that was there was a bottle of sunscreen and a book Ayumi had brought along. "Thanks…" Mitsuhiko looked as though he was disappointed by something, but grabbed the bottle of sunscreen off the desk and left.

A few hours later, Haibara got sick of sitting in a room with nothing to do and wandered outside. The wind whipped her hair into her face, the breeze pleasant in the hot air. She walked aimlessly, eventually finding herself at the edge of a cliff. The ground below wasn't that far down, so she sat along the edge of the cliff, watching the wind rustle the leaves on the trees.

Something strange caught her eye. A glint off of something shiny. Her first thought was _gun._ The second was _knife._ She peered down, making out a human form. She was too far away to tell what exactly was going on, and jumped down from the cliff edge, the ground being surprisingly close. Haibara edged down towards the figure and the scene began to get clearer. There was one person, the one with the shiny thing, and two other people who were across from the first person. Slowly, she snuck closer to find something that she was vaguely used to seeing.

There was a man, who had dirt smudges all over him, with a gun, also holding a heavy-looking bag. The gun he held was aimed at two people who had their hands in the air. One was a woman, who had a terrified expression on her face. Haibara had a feeling she was more on the innocent side, her eyes were wide and confused. The man next to her, however, looked a little more in tune as to what was going on. He was glaring at the man with the gun, his hands in the air but his stance more aggressive.

Haibara pondered what to do. Should she rush in and try to help? That would most likely get her killed on the spot. She decided to edge just a bit closer to get a better grasp on the situation. Haibara froze when the main wielding the gun shouted.

"On your knees! Or I'll kill you both!" The two others complied. The man, now on his knees, yelled something back.

"Yashio-san! What are you doing? I promised to bring that to Ari-sama. I did as I was told. I didn't complain! So why are you doing this?" The man with the gun laughed.

"So sorry, but I don't work for Ari-sama any more. I took care of him. A bullet right through the chest. But you see, I took care of his subordinates as well. And you, owing him something, makes you his subordinate as well." The man on his knees clenched his teeth.

"I thought we understood each other, Yashio-san! Once I paid that back, I was going to be free from Ari-sama!" The man with the gun laughed, until suddenly he stopped, his body falling forward. Haibara shivered uncontrollably. _This presence…_

"Took care of me, did you?" A deep laugh followed the cold voice as a man in black stepped from the shadows.

"A-A-Ari-sama!" The man bowed, his forehead touching the ground. The woman was just frightened, confused as to what was going on. As the man stepped closer to them, the woman fainted, unable to handle the situation. Haibara was shaking, gasping for breath now. _This… This… is … Anokata!_

The man in black picked up the bag from the dead man. He opened it up, looked inside, and smirked.

"Well done. You're free from your debt." Relief rushed over the man's face as he lifted it to look at the man in black.

"Thank you so much!" He exclaimed. The man in black smirked again.

"Of course. Now scat." The man scrambled up, but then attempted to help the unconscious woman up. "Uh-uh. She has a chance of living if you get out of here in the next ten seconds." The man dropped the woman's arm and started running. The man in black aimed.

"Ten… nine… eight… seven… six… five… four… three… two… one." He pulled the trigger. Haibara stared in horror as the running man dropped dead. She was shaking, gasping for breath, and unable to move. All sorts of memories raced in a blur through her mind. All that was associated with this man was death. Pain. Suffering. Tears. Anguish.

Now the man stepped towards the woman who was lying unconscious on the ground. _No…_ Three dead bodies flashed through her mind. _No…no…_ She couldn't move. _He's going to kill her. She's done nothing wrong. She's going to die. In front of me. She's going to die. He's going to kill her. I can't move. I can't help. She's going to die…_ Her eyes flitted around. _The gun. It should have some more bullets in it…_ Haibara managed to move her arm. _I can't!_ Tears streamed down her face. _I can't. She's going to get killed. But I can't… I can't…_

"Moh! Genta! You ate half of the food already! Let's keep walking for a bit until we get to a better spot. Don't eat anymore!" Haibara's blood froze. _They're coming._ The man in black stopped walking towards the woman, a disturbing smile upon his features. Haibara had heard that the man was insane, and his decreasing sanity had partially led to the downfall of the Black Organization. _He'll kill them. He'll kill them all. I have to. I have to save them. Or they'll all die._ She rushed forward grabbing the gun and aiming at the man. It took all she had to hold her body steady. The tears, however, refused to stop, so she let them run.

"Don't. Even. Think. About. It." She said sternly. She could hear the voices coming closer. The man grinned.

"Don't I know you? I'm pretty sure I know that face of yours. Why do you look so unhappy?" His gun was no longer aimed at anyone or anything.

"Is that Haibara-san?" She heard Mitsuhiko's voice.

"Don't come near!" She yelled, keeping her eyes trained on the man in black.

"Ai-chan what are you-"Ayumi broke off. The man smiled.

"These your friends, Sherry?" Haibara couldn't control the trembling any longer. He knew her codename.

"Sh-shut up. Shut up." She attempted to keep a good aim, but her trembling was making her shot unreliable.

He began to walk towards them. Ayumi seemed a bit slow today.

"Ai-chan… why do you have a gun…" The man smirked, bloodlust evident in his eyes.

"Look miss, I have one too. Isn't it nice?" Ayumi paled more than she already had. All three of the guys stepped in front of Ayumi to guard her, but with the gun now aimed at them, there wasn't much they could do. Haibara swallowed.

"Close your eyes, Ayumi-chan. Guys; you might want to as well." The man looked over at Haibara, his insane grin still on his face. Haibara's tears finally decided to stop.

"Why, Sherry? You going to faint? Or are you going to die first?" He tipped his head in reaction to the fierce glare that was suddenly returned to him.

"Die." She fired two shots at his forehead. He dodged one by moving his head to the side; the other grazed the side of his face. Ayumi screamed, not knowing what had happened.

Suddenly the man came at Haibara, knocking the gun out of her hand and attempting to bring his gun down on her head. She dodged to the side and gave him a good punch in the stomach, then swung her body around and kicked him hard in the back of his knees. Despite her swift attack, the man was inhumanly strong, and he caught himself, turning and pinning Haibara against one of the trees with one arm. The adrenaline she had felt when fighting had suddenly left her with only fear. The man put the gun to her head, but suddenly an extremely fast soccer ball came flying and hit him right on the side of his head. Next came a huge rock thrown from the same direction, miraculously landing on his head as well, finally knocking the man out. Haibara was still shaking, unable to realize fully that the man couldn't hurt them anymore. She was breathing rapidly, her eyes losing focus. Conan got to her right when she passed out, catching her.

"Nice throw, Genta." Conan said, looking down at the man. "Someone call the police."


	5. Make Everything Right

NOTE: this was made for UA's birthday, I know it's not the greatest but I tried hard… HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan

Chapter 5 – Make Everything Right

"Haibara!" Haibara's eyes flitted open. Seeing Conan, relief rushed through her. He was safe. Her eyes looked around to confirm the others' fate.

"Everyone's alright?" She asked weakly, still half in dreamland.

"Everyone is just fine Haibara. What about you?" She breathed in a shaky breath then smiled.

"I'm alright as well. Ayumi-chan didn't see anything… right?" Ayumi nodded.

"Good…" Takagi-kebu suddenly appeared.

"I'm going to need to ask you some questions. You think you can handle it?" Haibara sat up and nodded. She noticed they were in a hospital room. They must've went back home. She ruined everything. Their trip, the fun they had planned. Everything.

An hour later, Takagi was done asking questions, still wondering about how this girl had used a gun so well, just as she had once before. But now she was a teenager, so perhaps she had learned somewhere. He decided to put that part aside and focus on the rest of the case. Ai-chan and Conan-kun were just strange mysteries he might never find the answer to.

Ayumi walked back into the hospital room. "Hey Ai-chan…" Haibara motioned for her to come sit by her. She could tell that something was bothering the girl, and she had a fairly good idea what it might be.

"Ayumi-chan, the person I like isn't Tsubaraya-kun, you know." Ayumi stared at her wide-eyed for a minute, and then became bright red.

"O-Oh…"

"And I'm sorry for ruining your vacation…" Ayumi shook her head.

"You didn't!" Haibara sighed.

"You don't have to say things just to be nice you know." Ayumi got a little redder and moved over to Haibara's ear.

"Those people in the magazine were right…" Haibara blinked. Right when she was about to ask what she was talking about, she figured it out.

"Well… someday I'll decide that for myself." Ayumi grinned.

"With Conan-kun?" Haibara contained her embarrassment.

"Oh what ever could you be suggesting, Ayumi-chan?" The younger girl continued to grin.

"Whatever you say, Ai-chan… whatever you say."

A day later, Haibara was officially released from the hospital after multiple checkups were run to make sure and absolutely sure she was not hurt in any way. To her surprise, Conan was waiting for her.

"You feeling alright?" He asked coming up to her.

"I'm perfectly fine." She and Conan walked side by side.

"The person who attacked you was "Anokata" from the Black Organization. The few rats that had spoken were right about his mental deterioration. He's basically lost it. For now they're keeping him in jail under strict watch. Still no sign of Vermouth and the crazy man isn't talking. But I'm not sure Vermouth is a threat anymore."

Haibara looked over at him. A warm feeling came inside her. Partially relief that the brains behind the Black Organization was put in jail, and partially happiness at being able to return just a little to the way things used to be. Even though running after criminals was a pain, it was exciting. Watching Kudo-kun solve a case was just as heart pounding as well.

"Hey Haibara…" Kudo-kun stopped; they had ended up walking into a park.

"What?"

"Was there another reason you left to go to a different school?" Haibara froze. Conan took off his glasses almost in a way to say "no secrets". The look in his eyes pushed her over the edge, the edge where she found herself telling the truth when really she could've left it with a snide remark.

"If you want the truth, it was partly because I couldn't stay so close to you anymore." She sat down on a bench, Kudo-kun sitting next to her. _What am I doing?_ "What's the point in getting more attached to you? It would be like a cruel joke." _There. I did it. I opened my big mouth and said it. Are you happy now, little heart of mine? Watch as you get hurt even more._

"I see." Haibara stared off into the distance, getting ready to isolate herself into her own world where no matter what the person beside her said, it wouldn't affect her. "Do you know why I've been spacing out recently?" Haibara found the question to be a bit random.

"Thinking of her?" She asked.

"No. I was… I was thinking of you. And how you belong here with us. How you would say or do a certain thing in a situation. How you would encourage the kids. How you would help solve some of the mysteries." Haibara turned and outright stared at him.

"There are things in the world that we just have to accept. I loved Ran. But there's no way to go back to our original bodies. And either way we'd have to lie about our lives. How could I go back to Kudo Shinichi now? I'm already forgotten. My new name is more recognizable. Ran moved on. She moved on after so many years of waiting for someone who could never come. And now she's happy overseas. I'm happy for her. Once I came to have peace with it… I realized there was someone I had beside me for a long time that was irreplaceable." He returned her gaze. "And then that person's missing presence became almost unbearable. Recently it has been even worse. Here you are. I would be happy for you if you were happy where you were doing what you liked. But you aren't. I can see the pain on your face, you know. You're my partner."

Haibara bit her lip, keeping tears that were begging to run down her face from doing so. He stood up and reached a hand out to her.

"We are still partners, right?" Haibara smiled and took his hand.

"Of course."

"There was once a chance I didn't take… The story behind this is very complicated, but it went something like this. There was a detective who was on the side of justice. I was lost for hope at the death of someone close to me, and ended up running to him. For very long we were at odds. I wasn't like him. We shared one thing in common that eventually led to something so fragile as a friendship. As time went on, we shared things with each other, and at times seemed to be in our own world. I found that I felt something more than a friendship for him. But he was in love with someone else, someone who I respected. Even so, I attempted to show him in subtle ways how I felt for him, but the guy is totally hopeless when it comes to love.

So instead of taking a chance and staying by his side, I ran away, something I had promised to stop doing. I was lonely, having not taken the chance given to me. But sometimes when we're fools and throw away the chance given to us, we get another one. In this case, I was given another chance. When life seems like nothing but darkness and death, one can always find a detective to sort out the problems."

The teacher had given Haibara a C, for it being unclear and lack of description. Haibara smiled. She was absolutely proud of the paper. Maybe the last line was cheesy, but it made her smile reading it even though she was the one who had wrote it. Of course she couldn't write the details, or else the teacher would think she was lying, or just plain crazy. Walking out of the school at the end of the day, she was met by Kudo-kun and the Detective Boys.

"We got a new case today! A missing person! Come on Ai-chan, we have to hurry!"

~El Fin~

Happy Birthday, Tony! Hope you enjoyed the story and have a wonderful birthday!


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